Illinois environmental groups have filed a federal lawsuit over the proposed Illiana Tollway, claiming that the Federal Highway Administration's approval relied on exaggerated population forecasts, faulty financial information and failed to adequately consider the environmental impact.

The lawsuit, filed May 21 in U.S. District Court in Chicago, is on behalf of Openlands, the Midewin Heritage Association and the Sierra Club and lists the FHWA, Illinois Department of Transportation and Indiana Department of Transportation as defendants.

In April, several environmental organizations — including the Midewin Heritage Association, Sierra Club and Environmental Law and Policy Center — sent a letter with 40 pages of documentation to the FHWA. The letter cited several reasons why the agency should "withdraw and reconsider" its approval in December of the 47-mile tollway that would link Interstate 55 near Wilmington to I-65 near Lowell, Ind.

Since the FHWA failed to respond or act on that letter, the organizations decided to file the lawsuit, said Stacy Meyers, policy coordinator for Openlands.

The suit asks the FHWA to reverse its approval of the toll road and required environmental impact study and to not preserve the tollway corridor.

"This is more than saying we don't want this to go forward. We want to know that it is off the books," Meyers said. "It's a project that makes no sense, literally and physically."

The lawsuit focuses on three major issues — the tollway's impacts on the nearby Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, exaggerated data and a secret financial report, said Al Grosboll, co-legislative director for the Chicago-based Environmental Law and Policy Center.

A six-page report issued by the center this month says the need for the toll road between Interstate...

John Greuling, president of the Will County Center for Economic Development, is urging Gov. Bruce Rauner not to "stick a fork" in the Illiana Tollway project, despite its apparent financial challenges.

A six-page report issued by the center this month says the need for the toll road between Interstate...

(Susan DeMar Lafferty)

The suit stresses what it sees as the road's substantial negative impacts on the national prairie because of its proximity (within 50 feet of the preserve at one point) and that the expected heavy truck traffic would disturb the habitat of grassland birds and other species.

The Illiana Tollway would result in the loss of more than 3,100 acres of farmland — including 1,960 acres of prime farmland, 51 acres of forest and 64 acres of wetlands — and would traverse rivers and waterways 74 times, according to the suit.

It contends that the FHWA also relied on overstated population and employment forecasts in the tollway study area, which became the basis for inflated traffic projections that were used to establish the need for the road.

The environmentalists' April letter says the U.S. Census Bureau's most recent population estimates indicate that Will County's population has been mostly stagnant. IDOT estimated that Will County would grow by 3.3 percent annually to 1.3 million people in 2040, but the census bureau data shows a current growth rate of .29 percent annually, according to the environmental groups.

The lawsuit also cites a Fitch Ratings report that IDOT failed to disclose last year after spending $112,000 for it. Fitch, a major bond rating agency, would not give an investment grade rating for the bonds that would be sold for the Illiana Tollway, indicating that the project had a higher risk of default through its proposed private-public partnership.

"The decision to move forward with this project was based on the belief that a public-private partnership was possible," Grosboll said. "Fitch makes it clear that no one would buy the bonds, and this information was kept secret. Any time a public agency pays for a report that they do not want to put in writing, that tells you something."

This is the third lawsuit that the Environmental Law and Policy Center has filed against the tollway. The first claimed that transportation officials ignored federal law in planning the toll road, and that suit will likely be combined with the new one, Grosboll said.

A second suit, filed in state court, argues that IDOT never should have moved forward with the Illiana Tollway because it did not get approval from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, as specified by state law. Instead, a CMAP policy committee approved the project, Grosboll said.

Meanwhile, opposition to the proposed toll road has gained momentum, with more local governments in Will County passing resolutions against it.

Officials in Florence Township and Symerton took a stand against the tollway this month, and Elwood is expected to do likewise.

"We have the smallest township in the state. It (tollway) would cut it in half," Florence Township Trustee John Seibert said. "It would change our way of life quite a bit. Our constituents are not thrilled about it."

Seibert said there has been an increase in truck traffic in the area since the intermodal centers in Elwood and Joliet opened several years ago, but he does not believe that the Illiana Tollway would alleviate that traffic.

"I don't think trucks will use it," he said of the tollway, which is designed to relieve truck traffic from I-80.

"They need another plan for these trucks. This is not well thought out," Symerton Mayor Eli Geise said, noting that the proposed route come within 150 yards of Symerton's order. "We do not want the noise, pollution and everything else that goes with it."

The area has the "best farmland in the world," Geise said, adding that "no one I know is in favor of (the tollway)."